Tepid US retail sales raising doubts about economy WASHINGTON (AP) — Bleaker outlooks at retailers like Wal-Mart and Macy’s are raising doubts that consumers will spend enough in coming months to lift the still-subpar U.S. economy. Though the economy is growing steadily, Americans are being hampered by weak pay, higher taxes and tepid hiring. Sluggish overseas economies are also slowing sales for U.S. retailers. It’s a picture the Federal Reserve will weigh in deciding whether to scale back it...

Power companies dangle free nights and weekends NEW YORK (AP) — Electric bills have long been take-it-or-leave-it affairs: Pay one rate for all the power you used the month before, no matter when you used it. But some electric companies want to shake-up that rigid business model. They are increasingly offering plans that sound like come-ons from mobile phone companies: Free nights, free weekends and pre-paid plans. “We are seeing a transformation in the way people buy and use electricity in...

Dow slips to worst week of 2013 NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell Friday, closing out what was the worst week of the year for the Dow Jones industrial average. The market was dragged lower by a weak performance from retailers and companies sensitive to higher interest rates. Homebuilders and banking stocks were among the best performers. Stocks had a decent start to the week, but investors were hit hard the last three days. The Dow retreated 2.2 percent for the week, its worst in ...

Fewest Americans since 2007 seek jobless benefits WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 320,000, the fewest since October 2007 — a sign of dwindling layoffs and steady if modest job growth. The Labor Department said Thursday that the less volatile four-week average fell 4,000 to 332,000, the fewest since November 2007 and the fifth straight decline. Companies are laying off fewer workers, a trend that has lowe...

CIA acknowledges Area 51 — but not UFOs or aliens LAS VEGAS (AP) — UFO buffs and believers in alien encounters are celebrating the CIA’s clearest acknowledgement yet of the existence of Area 51, the top-secret Cold War test site that has been the subject of elaborate conspiracy theories for decades. The recently declassified documents have set the tinfoil-hat crowd abuzz, though there’s no mention in the papers of UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings. Audrey Hewin...

NTSB: No engine failure in fatal UPS plane crash BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Federal investigators found no initial evidence that a UPS cargo jet suffered engine failure or was burning before it clipped trees at the end of a runway and slammed into a hillside, killing the two crew members onboard, officials said Thursday. UPS on Thursday night identified the victims as Capt. Cerea Beal, Jr., 58, of Matthews, N.C. and First Officer Shanda Fanning, 37, of Lynchburg, Tenn. In an email, the company ...

New NSA revelations stir congressional concern WASHINGTON (AP) — New revelations from leaker Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency has overstepped its authority thousands of times since 2008 are stirring renewed calls on Capitol Hill for serious changes to NSA spy programs, undermining White House hopes that President Barack Obama had quieted the controversy with his assurances of oversight. An internal audit provided by Snowden to The Washington Post shows the agency has repeat...

New school year awaits kids who survived twister MOORE, Okla. (AP) — One young girl is so afraid of the wind that she carries headphones to block out the sound. Other kids are traumatized by the memory of their narrow escape from the storm and the friends who died just a few feet away from them. Nearly three months after a twister blasted through Moore and destroyed two elementary schools, students are preparing to go back to class. Although many families are ready to return to a familiar ro...

’Bucket List Bandit’ gets 11 years sentence in Pa. PITTSBURGH (AP) — A bank robber nicknamed the “Bucket List Bandit” after allegedly telling a Utah teller he had just four months to live was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in federal prison for a string of heists spanning 10 states. Michael Eugene Brewster’s public defender told the federal judge who handed down the sentence that a medical evaluation found his client didn’t have cancer or any other terminal illness. Brewster’s case made headli...

Warrants: Mother, boy tortured before friend fled SAN DIEGO (AP) — A family friend tortured and killed a mother and 8-year old son before setting his home on fire and escaping with the mother’s 16-year-old daughter, according to search warrants unsealed Wednesday. The warrants do not describe the torture but say firefighters found the mother’s body in James Lee DiMaggio’s garage near a crowbar and what appeared to be blood next to her head. A dead dog was found under a sleeping bag in the gar...

US: Egypt violence ’serious blow’ to peace efforts WASHINGTON (AP) — In a stern warning to Egypt’s leaders, Secretary of State John Kerry said the escalating violence throughout the country Wednesday had dealt a “serious blow” to political reconciliation efforts between the military-backed interim government and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Still, Obama administration officials signaled no change in U.S. policy toward Egypt or clear consequences for the mounting violence. The...

Utah fire destroys 13 homes near resort town WANSHIP, Utah (AP) — A wildfire threatened hundreds of homes Wednesday after destroying more than a dozen others outside the resort town of Park City. The lightning-sparked blaze was among several in the West where fires have devoured dry grass and brush and burned to the edges of small communities. Shifting winds in Utah pushed the fire toward homes in a subdivision about 10 miles outside Park City. It destroyed a dozen homes on Tuesday, plus...

Manning takes stand, apologizes for hurting US FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Pfc. Bradley Manning took the stand Wednesday at his sentencing hearing in the WikiLeaks case and apologized for hurting his country, pleading with a military judge for a chance to go to college and become a productive citizen. He addressed the court on a day of often emotional testimony from family members about his troubled childhood and from a psychologist who said Manning felt extreme mental pressure in the “hyper-ma...

Uncertainty awaits airline industry without merger DALLAS (AP) — The merger between American Airlines and US Airways was supposed to cap an era of consolidation that helped the airline industry return to profitability. And it would make American a viable competitor to giants United and Delta. The government’s lawsuit to block the merger has put both of those expectations in doubt. Airline investors fear that if American can’t grow by merging, it will add flights, which will lower airfares and ...

Likely Labor regs would aid vets, disabled, unions WASHINGTON (AP) — With Thomas Perez now confirmed as head of the Labor Department, the agency is expected to unleash a flurry of new regulations that have been bottled up for months — a prospect that has business leaders worried and labor advocates cheering. Some long-awaited rules would help boost employment for veterans and the disabled, increase wages for home health care workers and set new limits for workplace exposure to dangerous silica...

Experts: Fort Hood victims shot while lying down FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — At least four people killed during a gunman’s rampage at Fort Hood in 2009 were likely shot while lying on the floor inside a building at the Texas military base, experts testified Wednesday during the accused shooter’s trial. Pathologists who conducted several autopsies of the victims described the wounds caused by an FN 5.7 semi-automatic pistol while testifying at the military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan. He is accused...

Study: Half who now buy own health plan to get aid WASHINGTON (AP) — About half the people who now buy their own health insurance — and potentially would face higher premiums next year under President Barack Obama’s health care law — would qualify for federal tax credits to offset rate shock, according to a new private study. Many other people, however, earn too much money to be eligible for help, and could end up paying more. The estimate, being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Fa...

Where were you during the blackout of 2003? About 50 million people lost power Aug. 14, 2003, when a tree branch in Ohio started an outage that cascaded across a broad swath from Michigan to New England and Canada. Commuters in New York City and elsewhere had to sleep on steps, hitchhike or walk home as trains were rendered powerless and gas pumps stopped working; food spoiled as refrigerators and freezers thawed; jugs of water sold out as supply plants lost their ability to supply cons...

UPS jet crashes near Birmingham airport, 2 dead BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A UPS cargo plane crashed into a field near the Birmingham airport Wednesday, killing two pilots and scattering wreckage over a rural area moments after witnesses heard the massive A300 jet coming in at treetop level. People living near the airfield reported seeing flames coming from the plane and hearing its engines struggle in the final moments before impact. “It was on fire before it hit,” said Jerome Sanders, who li...